The influence of caffeine on the sensory organization test

Background: Clinicians often request that patients refrain fromconsuming caffeinated beverages 24 h before vestibular function testing. However, there is limited research regarding how caffeine may affect the results ofthese tests. The sensory organization test (SOT) evaluates how well an individual is able tomaintain his or herbalance during several different conditions that manipulate vestibular, visual, or somatosensory information.

Purpose: This study evaluated whether caffeine consumption affects the results of the SOT in a group of healthy young adults.

Research Design: Individuals were evaluated under two conditions: (1) after consuming z300 mg of caffeinebefore testing, and (2) without consuming a caffeinated beverage for 24 h before testing. Regular caffeineintake and caffeinewithdrawal symptoms were assessed in these individuals. Participants were stratifiedinto a no/lowor amoderate/high caffeine intake group through the use of a self-reported 1-week caffeine diary.

Study Sample: Thirty healthy control participants (mean age 5 23.28 yr; males 5 9) without any historyof vestibular or balance impairment participated in the present study.

Data Collection/Analysis: The NeuroCom SMART Equitest was used to administer the SOT, whereaspaired t-tests, completed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20,were used to analyze the data for statistical significance.

Results: Analysis of the data revealed a statistically significant difference between the caffeine and nocaffeinesessions during (1) condition 5 (C5): eyes closed, platform sway-referenced; and (2) the totalcomposite score. Statistically significant differences were also noted for the vestibular and somatosensorypreference ratios. In general, the participants performed better (i.e., higher equilibrium/compositescores) during the caffeine session. When significant results were found, the participants were stratifiedby weekly caffeine intake into a no/low caffeine (LC) intake group versus a moderate/high caffeine (HC)intake group. After this stratification, a statistically significant difference remained for C5, the compositescore, and the somatosensory/vestibular preference ratios for the LC intake group, whereas no statisticallysignificant results were found in the HC intake group. In addition, further analysis revealed less of achange in the equilibrium score as the amount of weekly caffeine intake increased. Despite these significantresults, the mean differences were small in magnitude, and C5, the composite score, as well asthe sensory analysis ratios, fell within normal limits for all participants during both sessions.

Conclusions: The ingestion of caffeine did not produce a clinically significant effect in healthy youngcontrol participants. Future research is needed to determine if these same results occur in older adults,or in individuals with a history of vestibular impairment.